First, he received an unusually warm ovation from the Allen Fieldhouse crowd. Then, he caught a glimpse of himself in his No. 33 Kansas University jersey from the early 1980s during the Jayhawks’ intro video that accompanied Saturday’s starting lineups.

Although that was about the point at which the welcome-home moment ended, current Colorado coach — and former KU player — Tad Boyle said he appreciated the gesture, even if it was followed by an 89-63 drubbing.

“It was nice being back in Lawrence,” Boyle said. “I mean, this is a special place. Outside of the game, it was nice. But what makes it nice is that people here appreciate college basketball.”

Saturday, Kansas treated everyone in the building to a clinic on how to play the game. A big reason why the Jayhawks played so well stemmed from their still-lingering disappointment over how poorly they played Monday night at Kansas State. Boyle said the Buffs were ready to face an angry bunch of Jayhawks and were hoping to hang with them long enough to make a game of it.

But that never happened.

Kansas opened with a 7-0 run, pushed the lead to 22-11 by the 10:35 mark of the first half and had firm control at 48-31 by halftime.

“We just knew that they were gonna be dialed in,” Boyle said. “We had a backdoor play called, and we couldn’t get into it the first three times down. We couldn’t even make a pass. We ran into a juggernaut today. My hat’s off to KU. They played awful well.... They were just too much for us today. They beat us in every facet of the game.”

CU played better in the second half. The Buffs’ defense cooled Kansas down, dropping the Jayhawks’ field-goal percentage from 56 in the first half to 48 in the second but still 52 for the game. At a loss to describe how his team played better in the second half, Boyle again deflected the credit to Kansas.

“I think they just missed shots,” Boyle said. “Sometimes, the only team that can beat Kansas is Kansas. They’re a very good basketball team.”

The intro video, including the footage of Boyle, who played at Kansas from 1982-85, actually was KU coach Bill Self’s idea. While at Oklahoma State, Self played against Boyle.

“I told Tad to watch the video because he was gonna be on it,” Self said. “I thought they’d have an action moment rather than him running off the court. But that was probably hard to find in the archives. We played a long time ago.”

Added Boyle, when asked about being included in the video: “That just shows you the class of KU people and the KU fans.”

“It makes you feel good as a former player, but my job is the coach of the Colorado Buffaloes right now, so I don’t get caught up in that. But the fans of Kansas are nothing but class.”

Being back in town reminded Boyle of that. And just in time, too. With CU headed to the Pac-10 next season, Boyle’s first trip to Allen Fieldhouse as a head coach was likely his last for a while.

“Yeah, it’s a little nostalgic, there’s no question,” he said. “This is a special place for basketball. It’s an opportunity I know our players really look forward to, and, as coaches, we do, too. We certainly don’t relish going through days like this and getting your teeth smashed in. But you want the opportunity to play against the best and coach against the best, and that’s what you get when you come to Allen Fieldhouse.”

Saturday’s victory was KU’s 28th straight against CU in Allen Fieldhouse and 17th consecutive win against Colorado overall. The Jayhawks now lead the all-time series with the Buffs, 121-39.

Comments

"We just knew that they were gonna be dialed in," Tad Boyle said. "We ran into a juggernaut today. My hat's off to KU. They played awful well.

The Jayhawks had better been dialed in against Colorado. It was, not only a rough week for the players and coaches, but also, for all of Jayhawk Nation. It a nice bounce back game. Looking forward to Big Monday!

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Keep it up Hawks. Reed is getting a nice lead thanks to all keeping this link alive. Vote once everyday..
" Tad Boyle said. "We ran into a" Tad Boyle said. "We ran into a juggernaut today..
Juggernaut. I always liked that word but never looked it up. Kind of like a runaway train I guess.

Boyle's entry into the Pac Ten is perfect. As soon as Boyle gets some bigs, he's going to kick butt on the likes of Zona, UCLA, Cal, UWash and the Oregon schools.

Howland is on the down hill slope. He hid his colors for a couple years at UCLA by pioneering Hack'n'Slap. But how that everyone plays hack'n'slap, he is what he is. A balding, whining little guy with a Big Sky Conference mentality masquerading as a big time coach at a Maybach program. UCLA is going to have to dump him to get back on track, but those three Final Fours, back when he had the unfair edge of hack'n'slapl, will keep him tied around the Bruins' necks for two more years, at least.

And that's a window for Tad Boyle to get in and carve out a competitive niche. But Boyle's got real problems to overcome at CU. No one cares about basketball. And so how is he going to get the bigs to come, when the fans don't care about basketball, and Tad hasn 't got any old friends, like Larry Brown had, that he can hire with a future Top 50 Center like Danny Manning.

Very tough. But if Boyle can get some bigs, he knows how to coach.

The first game in Boulder, he actually outsmarted Self for awhile.

But Self always sorts it out by the next game and since Boyle has not bigs, he ran out of tricks, and Self cut him to pieces in Lawrence.

This is not a sign that Boyle can't coach. This is a sign that Boyle only had two guys on his entire team that offered even match ups.

No coach can keep pulling rabbits out of a hat after a coach like Self has seen him once already.

Boyle's best move is to follow what Doc has done at NU finally this season, and what Sean Miller is already trying to do at Arizona. Get as much muscle as fast as he can. Focus on defense to keep the scores close, then hope he gets lucky with some muscle bound guy developing some offensive game. Then go shopping for a marquis player, or two, once the team is stocked with muscle ballers that can protect a developing young start.

Sadler fooled himself for several years up at NU into thinking he could build a well rounded team based on D1 left-overs. It won't work. Huggo Muggo was the first to figure this out 15-20 years ago. The Maybachs get all the good basketball players. The second tier teams get all the second tier basketball players. If you try to build a well rounded team based on the second tier talent, you are doomed to play a respectable game and lose.

So long as the refs allow it, dragging in XTReme Muscle Ballers, put them on weight programs, and teaching them XTReme Cheap Shotting, can get you to a steady .500 to .600 level (i.e., keep you out of the cellar) and build the kind of tough guy rep that can eventually attract the occassional prison body baller, who can really play the game.

Once you land that guy, you squeeze up to .600 to .700 and at that point you make a play for Blue Chip or two.

Doc Sadler, though I have made fun of him for a long time, after several mistaken efforts to try to build well rounded teams, is finally on exactly the right path. He's got a big, ugly, brawny push and shove bunch that can defend by pushing you out of your cuts and into the mezzanine. Muscle ball combined with cheap shotting works. When you have a decent shooting night and a Texas struggles a bit with their shots, you upset, not just play them a good game. It works for a UNI against a KU. It worked for years and years for Huggo Muggo at UCinn. And it has worked for Frankie the Hit Man at KSU.

Back out in the Pac Ten...

Monty at Cal is just not cool enough any more, though he is trying to work the XTReme Muscle/XTReme Cheap Shotting formula, too.

Bo Peet at UWash is already peaked and sliding.

Michelle's brother is just at at Oregon State.

Altman could get things going at Oregon, because he's got, compliments of Phil Knight, the resources knocked without having to waste a second talking to alums. Altman can spend all his time coaching. But Altman's never been a dynamic recruiter, just very sound Okie Baller. So: he is apt to build a foundation and then Knight is apt to punt him for someone dynamic.

Miller thinks he's coming up at Aridzona, and being from the Herb Sendek school, he knows the game and is willing to cut corners, but so far he is just landing muscle ballers and trying to rough people up. Chol fits that bill of fare. But Sendek, after inheriting a great player (Harden), is struggling bringing the bodies into Tempe. And unless Miller cuts corners big time, he's going to have Herb's problem in Tucson.

Boyle, if has learned his lesson in the B12 this year, will go out and drag in as much muscle as he can as quick as he can...and get creative about cheap shotting.